SETTING THE EDELBROCK CARBURETOR IDLE CIRCUIT



Of course this procedure will work for Holly, Carter, and most other carburetors:


1) Plug the vacuum gauge on the lower port on the front of the carb, this should NOT be the port for your vacuum advance unit. Leave the vacuum advance, to the distributor, hooked up.

2) Now lets get the idle down as low as it'll go without stalling.

3) Now start turning one of the idle screws in until it starts to loose vacuum or the engine starts to sputter.

4) Now count the turns as you turn the screw out until the same thing happens. Lets say your number is 2 so now go in 1/2 of that or 1 back.

5) OK now same with the other side. Remember to keep bringing that idle down to compensate for your tuning. You want it as low as possible so you can get a true reading on the idle mixture.

6) Now start all over again. Idle adjusted down, screw in, screw out, count and set.

7) By now you should have a pretty good smooth idle.

8) Now lets watch the vacuum gauge, 1/2 turn in, 1/2 turn out, slowly turn the screw back and forth no more than a 1/2 turn in either direction until you get the highest reading on your gauge. That's it, your done.

9) Set the idle up to your desired RPM for most of you using a Edelbrock your probably running a pretty mild engine so 750-950 is probably about right.

10) Now crack the throttle off idle...sounds pretty good huh.

11) OK, now check your timing and set it where you want it.


Greg Ford
January 2014